First week at CUT-first post

Hello everyone!

This is my first post.  I am Natasha from the Charles Telfair Institute and this week I have just started my internship in a non-governmental organization known as the “Collectif Urgence Toxida” (CUT).  I am quite happy with the idea of doing my internship there because one of my motivations for this placement is to engage myself into activism and advocacy which would allow me to truly enjoy this experience. 

What is the “Collectif Urgence Toxida” (CUT)?

CUT is a very first in Mauritius and was created in 2004 with several social workers and NGO members working in the field of HIV/AIDS and substance abuse.  CUT is an advocator of harm reduction strategies in an attempt to alleviate consequences (like AIDS or Hepatitis C) related with the injection of drugs.  Examples of some harm reduction strategies consist of the Methadone substitution therapy or needle exchange programs.

Public relations and advocacy

One interesting thing that I came to ponder on was the role of public relations in advocacy.  I think that advocacy and activism are strongly connected and the main emphasis is the delivery of the message.  In fact, CUT does have any structured public relations field however there is a lot of public relations involved in advocacy, the ultimate objective of such an action is to address policies and practices linked to Harm Reduction and the Injecting Drug Use field.  I think that a PR in an advocacy NGO, should firmly believe in the organisation's vision and mission especially when dealing with a delicate and controversial concept like harm reduction.

As an intern at CUT , I'm constantly learning the implications of harm reduction because  this will help me to better understand CUT's ideology and thus as a PR I should do my best to deliver the accurate message to the relevant stakeholders.


My internship coincides with CUT's second international conference on Harm reduction which will be held in September 2011. The following weeks will be on the preparation of the Conference and I am looking forward to the challenges and things that  I will be working on.

Wish you all the best for your internship

Enjoy your experience and Good luck….

Natasha Tylamma

Charles Telfair Institute Mauritius.